“in G.B.Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’, Does Eliza Become a Lady?”

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“In G.B.Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’, does Eliza become a lady?” Pygmalion – A romance in five acts is a play written by George Bernard Shaw in 1912, a very influential writer of his age. Pygmalion is also a Greek legend. The king of Cyprus – Pygmalion carved beautiful women out of ivory. He fell in love with the statue due to its perfection unlike the women around him. He prayed to the gods to give him a wife as beautiful as the statue. His wish was granted and the carved statue was bought to life whom he then married. Similarly in Shaw’s play, Eliza is brought to life by two men interested in phonetics - Higgins and Pickering by educating her in her speech and changing her manners from the world of poverty to the world of richness. Their goal, to present her as a lady and pass her as a duchess at an ‘ambassadors garden party’. The reason why I think the play is called ‘Pygmalion’ is that in the play Higgins falls in love with Eliza as he transforms her from a flower girl in to a lady as the king of Cyprus fell in love with the statue. ‘Pygmalion’ can not only be compared to the Greek mythology but it also has many associations with ‘Cinderella’ - a classic fairy tale that also originates from the Greek legend (the tale of Greco- Egyptian girl Rhodopis). The fabulous story is told that when Rhodopis was bathing an eagle snatched one of her sandals and carried it to Memphis where the eagle flung the sandal into the king’s lap. The king sent men in all directions to find the woman who wore the sandal. When she was eventually found she became the wife of the king. Not only can it be compared to ‘Cinderella’ as a Greek myth but it also has many similarities to the actual story line some of which are obvious and some that have been disguised. In my opinion Pygmalion is a modernised ‘Cinderella’ story with a twisted yet realistic ending. In both – ‘Pygmalion’ as
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